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{This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill! I used their Organic All Purpose Flour, Organic Rolled Oats and other goodies to make these EASY and fun holiday gifts!! Everyone and anyone is guaranteed to love them. I know I do!}
Sooo, are we all still recovering from Thursday??
Cause I know I sure am. The last three days have been basically non-stop. All fun things, but non-stop. Obviously, Thursday was spent cooking…cooking all day long. It was so much fun though. I had tons of help from my mom (she made the pies), my cousin Abby and her roommate Sarah (they where on tater duty). My brother Kai…ahhh well, he made chocolate martinis, but just his presence made everything all that much better (I love when he is home!). There were also appearances by all the other brothers. Redmond rode around the kitchen on a skateboard and I yelled at him a good five times before he stopped…typical. Brendan brought his girlfriend, Lyndsie, whom I had never meet before. I can be pretty tough when it comes to liking the brother’s girlfriends, but I think she’s awesome. She’s really cool and fits right in with family. Let’s see, who else. Creighton, my oldest brother, did a lot of football watching and of course my dad did a whole lot of dish washing. It was a long day that ended with Kai getting a new laptop for his birthday (he was PUMPED and very surprised!) Mom also surprising me with the CUTEST Christmas duvet and shams, because apparently I am eight years old still. Love it!
And that was basically Thursday. Friday and Saturday were spent with Kai, working on new videos for you guys. We’ve put in some serious time together these last couple days. Get ready, videos are coming!
Not sure what today holds, but I’m sure it will be packed. It’s everyone’s last day here but they will be back for Christmas in about three weeks.
Geez, I am kind of tired just writing all that out.
OH, and I totally forgot to tell you that the whole family hiked up the trail (minus me because someone had to tend to the birds) and cut down the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day…yes, we are crazy.
OKAY. But enough about all the holiday stuff. Let’s talk about these gifts! As you can see, I’ve fully entered into Christmas mode and I am SO excited to start sharing with you all the cool things I have planned for this month. It’s going to be so much fun!
I know that edible gifts in jars aren’t really a new concept, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite versions. These gifts are so fun and so easy, AND everyone always appreciates a homemade gift that can simply be prepared and eaten. Like you really can’t go wrong with these. They’re perfect for everything from hostess gifts, to gifts for the in-laws, to gifts for your best girlfriends.
So here’s the break down for you. I have seven edible gifts for you guys.
…first – homemade fudge brownie mix with um, Reese’s. YES!
…second – Christmas oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Everything is better with holiday M&M’s.
…third – Christmas chocolate chip granola. Cause chocolate for breakfast is TOTALLY acceptable at Christmas time.
…fourth – homemade salted Nutella. Can I just have a spoon please? thanks!
…fifth – espresso glazed nuts. One word: addicting.
…sixth – salted pomegranate sugar. Festive, sweet and perfect for topping pretty much any cookie, brownie or truffle.
…seventh – gingerbread spice mix. Think pancakes, waffles, lattes and hot cocoa. <–DO IT ALL.
I was so excited to team up with Bob’s Red Mill for this post. Their flours, oats and nuts obviously are the PERFECT match for these Christmas gifts.
Also…I am so excited to share that Bob’s will be giving one of you a Holiday Gift Basket full of many of the ingredients needed to make these jars. I know, I know, yes!!
The gift basket will include:
*3 lbs Organic All Purpose Flour
*3 lbs Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
*Almond Meal
*Hazelnut Meal
*Sparkling Sugar
*Cane Sugar (or the turbinado sugar)
*Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (or quick oats if you prefer)
*Bob’s Red Mill Flour Sack Towel
To enter the giveaway: Tell me, tell me, what is your favorite Christmas gift to give, and what’s your favorite Christmas gift to receive???
Just leave you answer in the comments below and I will email the winner ONE week from today!!
Speaking of giving, one of my goals for December is to really try to give back to people who are less fortunate and struggling, so with each Sunday post through December, I want to talk about a charity I am giving to. Today I wanted to talk a bit about SmileTrain. Every day children in need of cleft palate surgery struggle with the basic abilities most of us take for granted. Think eating a meal, speaking, breathing or even something as simple as sharing a smile. Cleft palate can be fixed with surgery and this is what I wanted to bring awareness to today. Even donating just a few dollars can make a difference in one child’s life. I feel so lucky to have a family full of health, so I felt this was a great charity to put my money into. I would be so thankful if you guys took a little time today to read a little about cleft palate and donate if you can.
Let me know if you do in the comments, I would love to hear your stories about giving back this Christmas!!
Finally, I have to say that I LOVE these jars. I was so happy with how they turned out that I basically jumped for joy as I was shooting the photos. Oh and um, the brownies + cookies + Nutella… LIFE CHANGING… so dang good.
Also, I think I maybe had way too much fun decorating these jars. Crafts are so my thing. Just sayin.
Fudge Brownie Mix.
Servings: 24 Brownies
Calories Per Serving: 221 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 liter glass jar one
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons instant coffee optional
- 4 ounces milk chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup Mini Christmas Reese Cups
- 4 ounces dark chocolate chopped
Ingredients To Add
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, 2 sticks
- 2 tablespoons kahlua optional
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
Instructions
To Assemble the Jars
- Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.
- In the following order, layer the sugar, cocoa powder, flour/salt mix and instant coffee in your jar as cleanly as possible.
- In the following order, layer the milk chocolate, Reese's and dark chocolate. Seal the jar.
- Attach a notecard with the ingredients in the jar listed, plus the extra ingredients needed, and the directions on how to make the brownies. Decorate the jars as desired.
To Bake the Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and line with parchment paper.
- Dump the contents of the jar out into a mixing bowl. Remove the Reese's, unwrap and chop into pieces. Add them back to mixing bowl.
- Add 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) melted butter, 2 tablespoons Kahlua (optional), 1 tablespoon vanilla and 4 eggs. Mix with a spatula until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the brownies are just set. Allow to cool completely before cutting, about 2 hours. Dust with powdered sugar.
Christmas Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Servings: 28 Cookies
Calories Per Serving: 229 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 liter glass jar 1.5
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Old Fashioned Oats
- 3/4 cup Christmas M&M's
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup turbinado sugar or brown sugar
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Ingredients To Add
- 1 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To Assemble the Jars
- Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.
- In the following order, layer the flour mix, oatmeals, Christmas M&M's, turbinado sugar, granulated sugar and chocolate chips. Seal the jar.
- Attach a notecard with the ingredients in the jar listed, plus the extra ingredients needed, and directions on how to make the cookies. Decorate the jars as desired.
To Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
- Dump the contents of the jar out into a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a hand held mixer). Add 1 cup canola oil, 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Mix until the dough is moist and combined.
- Using your hands clump together a tablespoon of dough at a time. Use your hands to really squeeze the dough into a ball. If the mixture is not holding add another tablespoon more of oil. Place on the prepared baking sheet. If your balls are a little crumbly don't worry, they will come together while baking. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until set and golden. These are best right out of the oven, so eat up!
Christmas Chocolate Chip Granola.
Servings: 3 Litres
Calories Per Serving: 1686 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 cups Bob's Red Mill Rolled Oats
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill flaked unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup raw hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup raw pecans
- 1/2 cup pistachios
- 1 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or 1 more tablespoon butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 1/2-1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a large bowl combine the oats, coconut, hazelnuts, cashews, pecans and cranberries. Toss well.
- In a skillet or small sauce pot melt the butter over medium heat until just browned. The butter will melt, foam and froth, then begin to brown along the bottom. Whisk the browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. Once the butter is browned quickly remove from the heat and slowly stir in the maple syrup and coconut oil. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the warm maple mixture over the dry oat mixture and stir to fully combine. I normally stir for a good 3 to 5 minutes.
- Spread the granola out on a parchment lined baking sheet with sides and drizzle with 2 tablespoons honey. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes stirring every 15 minutes so the granola will get evenly toasted. The last time you stir the granola, drizzle it with the remaining 2 tablespoons honey. Remove from the oven and let cool five minutes. After 5 minutes spray the bottom of a flat 1 cup measuring cup or a flat bottomed glass with cooking spray. Press the granola into the pan using the bottom of the measuring cup so that you have a flat slab of granola that looks like it could be cut into bars. Let the granola sit for one hour to cool and harden. After an hour break the granola up into clusters. Stir in the chocolate chip and add to your glass jars.
- Decorate the jars as desired. The granola will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Servings base on 1 litre
Homemade Salted Nutella.
Servings: 20 ounces
Calories Per Serving: 169 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw hazelnuts
- 12 ounces milk chocolate chopped
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- pinch of flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Add the hazelnuts to the bowl of a food processor. Process until the hazelnuts form a paste, scraping down the sides if needed. This should take around 3-5 minutes. To the food processor, add all the remaining ingredients. Process until completely smooth, scraping down the sides 2-3 times for about 10 minutes. The Nutella will seem runny, but it will firm up as it cools. Divide the Nutella between your two jars. Decorate the jars as desired. Store at room temperature for 1 week or in the fridge for longer.
Espresso Glazed Nuts.
Servings: 1 Litres
Calories Per Serving: 3170 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cups raw almonds
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup raw pecans
- 1 cup raw pepitas
- 2/3 cup pure maple syrup warmed
- 2 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 3 teaspoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1 liter glass jar 1.5
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Heat the maple syrup, coconut oil, espresso powder and salt together until the espresso is mostly dissolved and the coconut oil has melted.
- Spread the nuts and pepitas on the lined baking sheet and toss well with the maple syrup mixture.
- Bake for 10 minutes, toss with a spatula and bake for another 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Break apart and place in jars, then seal. Decorate as desired. Nuts will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutritional serving based on 1 litre
Salted Pomegranate Sugar.
Servings: 6 ounces
Calories Per Serving: 12 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons flaky sea salt divided
- 1 teaspoon pomegranate juice
- 1-2 drops red gel food coloring optional
- 1 ounce jar 6
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the sugar and 1 tablespoon salt. Add the pomegranate juice and food coloring. Use your hands to mix everything together until all is combined and red (or pink if you did not use the food coloring). Spread the mixture out evenly on the cookie sheet and let dry at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Once dry mix in the remaining tablespoon of salt. Pour mixture into jar and seal. Decorate as desired.
Gingerbread Spice Mix.
Servings: 2 ounces
Calories Per Serving: 131 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Divide the spice mix between the 2 jars. Seal and decorate as desired.
And can we all eat all the cookies…and brownies??? please?!? who said anything about sharing. 🙂
{This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Half Baked Harvest cooking!! 
}
}
This post was originally published on November 29, 2015
Like everyone here, when I have the time I like knitting or making something. I also keep my ears open for anything my friend of family might mention the wanted , do some snooping for online wish lists, and lurk around their Pinterest boards to see if they have a ‘Want’ board or something. Yikes I sound like a stalker, I’m just a wish list hound because I like for things to be a surprise.
This year Christmas has gone to dogs because we recently got a puppy who now more grown up, has best friends so I bought I’d see if I could cook up a good healthy treat for them 🙂
Oops sorry about the typos. Gotta love autocorrect…a manual on how to turn off auto correct would be a great gift to receive – ha! I also realized that I forgot to mention what I love receiving. Honestly, kitchenware, gift certificate to the art store, sketch books (because you can never have on many), and anything good books related to dog training as it’s become a hobby of mine.
As for charity, I love the smile project, and another one we like is the heifer project. We are friends with someone whose relative worked for them and were informed that they are a really well run organization.
Sorry about all that babbling. Heh.
Happy holidays to you and your family whose parents gave you all such cool names!
To give: Christmas dinner with the whole experience of family
To receive: Christmas dinner with the whole experience of family
i love giving gifts that are made by my kids. they do their best and invest time in thinking about what they’ll give. those are what i’m most proud to give.
to receive, really anything because i never expect to receive anything. in my family, christmas stopped at age 18, so i’m still surprised when someone gives me something for the holidays.
How sweet of you to do this! I love love love reading all of these. Reflecting back over the years I have to say my favorite gifts to receive are the ones my child gave to me. It may be a piece of paper with a picture drawn on it to most. However, to me it is our family story. My son (7) always draws a picture of our family together holding hands and the stick people always have smiles on their faces. He always puts cute little notes like I love you mommy and daddy! The excitement when he gives it to us is so precious. Just looking at the picture and seeing that is how he views our family makes me so thankful and happy that he truly loves and appreciates us.
My favorite gifts to give are personalized ones. I love to give very sentimental gifts that are unexpected. This year my husband and I are giving his mother a bracelet that has her late mothers actual handwriting engraved on it. I always want to give something meaningful and irreplaceable. Ahh I just love Christmas.
I love to gift and receive homemade food items. We have a huge Pecan tree in our backyard and every year I make Sweet and Spicy Pecans to give away in pretty jars. My husband & I also smoke cheese, wax it and give it as gifts with a nice cheese board, made from wood cut on our property.
Love the jars you made. I will use a few of these this year, it was a bad year for our Pecan crop and these jars will supplement my food gifts.
Love these gift ideas! Definitely might give these to the secretaries at the school I work at! My favorite gifts to give are the homemade kind. Last year my husband and I made homemade vanilla extract and Kahlua. It was so fun to make together and people loved it! As I’ve gotten older (I’m only 28 ☺️) I’ve come to realize I don’t need much “stuff” but I would rather experience something with my family more than anything. I do love baking related gifts though ?
I love to give aromatherapy candles, creams, body lotions, hand washes and soaps. They are little treats that can be expensive and many times people don’t think about buying them for themselves.
I like to receive gift cards so I can pick out whatever I like for myself…unless my husband wants to surprise me with a weekend getaway somewhere…and then that would definitely be my favorite thing to receive.
My favorite gift to give is food! I like to find out what their favorite food is, kick it up a notch and give that as a gift 🙂 My favorite gift to receive is the gift of time…sitting and enjoy conversation with the ones I love…or even someone I just met… learning about them and their life!
I love to give people homemade treats, especially if I’m a bit low on cash or the person is hard to buy for. Everybody loves cookies, brownies and blondies, can’t go wrong! As for gifts I love to receive, fresh flowers are always such a delight. Or a new pair of shoes. Haaaaaay!
Absolutely love the idea of salted pomegranate sugar and everything else sounds amazing as always.
My husband and I spent over a decade (most of our 20s) living in the Colorado high country (yes, Summit! Still have our townhouse in Frisco) and each year when the holidays rolled around we would make the trip back to the East Coast to be with out families in Maryland. One year, before marriage & kids we made a to-die-for Pate from scratch in my moms kitchen. We sealed it up in little hinged jars ( I trekked to Denver to find & brought on the airplane) and brought it to everyone that Christmas holiday. My husband and I love to cook together although we don’t get the opportunity as much these days with little ones. We have vowed this season to make it again as a reminder of what Christmas means for us. Hello amazing food & good times in the kitchen!
Fav gift to get? Cookware. Anything related to the kitchen. Secret? My virtual Crate and Barrel cart is loaded with $500 bux worth of bowls (yes, I am bowl obsessed at the moment) & some new, fun, wine glasses. Hoping Santa pulls through for me!
I love making big batches of salted caramel sauce and granola to give as gifts throughout the holidays. And I love receiving homemade gifts in return 🙂
First, I love, love, love this site. I have received more “keeper” recipes on this site than any other. As for holiday giving, my favorite gift to give is homemade cakes. My daughters and I bake for the neighbors, teachers, and seniors in the community. Each year, we try new recipes, new decorations, expressing how we feel that season. My favorite gift to receive is something local or that support a small business. I enjoy the “story” behind the gift just as much as the gift itself.
My favorite gift to give is always something super personal. I spend time thinking of the perfect gift and hunting through stores to find it. My favorite gift to receive is always food haha especially in chocolate form?
My favorite gifts to give are activities! I like to make memories with people so I prefer to do something together over gift giving. Hiking, paddleboarding, a weekend away or even just a dinner out—I love giving and being part of these types of gifts.
My favorite gifts to get are homemade! Cookies, candies, candles, teas, artwork…anything people took the time to produce.
*dern my big fingers*
But this is the only gift I look forward to year after year!!